Cafe Scientifique
You are cordially invited to come and chat with a scientist about an
interesting and/or controversial science topic. Patterned after
the
International
Cafe Scientifique, the Science Department has initiated an outreach
program to promote public interest in science.
Our goal is simply to have regularly scheduled sessions for informal
discussions of scientific topics.
The LCC Science Department will present the next
Café Scientifique event on Tuesday, January 20, 2008
at 7:00pm
at Schuler Books and Music in the
Eastwood Towne Center.
The topic of conversation will be:
"Nuclear Power: A Precarious or a Plausible Source of Energy"
Nuclear power is once again a topic of
conversation as we consider alternatives to fossil energy sources. We will
discuss the basics of nuclear power generation and related issues, including
waste storage and processing, health effects of nuclear radiation, security
issues and lessons learned from history. *Note:
Beginning in January 2009, Café
Scientifique will begin at
7:00pm
rather than 7:30pm. Previous topics have included:
Please join us at one or all of these events. If you
have any questions, please contact Alex Azima by phone
517-483-1110 or by e-mail
alex@lcc.edu.
Upcoming topics:
A little more than a
decade ago, Dolly the cloned sheep made world wide head lines. However, she was
not the first cloned organism. We will discuss the long and controversial
history of cloning and what our current technology can do. Can we clone a
dinosaur, as in Jurassic Park? Can we clone a dead cat? Can we clone a human?
Should human cloning be allowed?
One of the most difficult problems
in society today is understanding why some people intentionally inflict
emotional and physical pain on others. Such intentional pain occurs not only on
a local level--within families, with "friends," or in work situations, but also
on a national and international scale--witness Hitler's Holocaust, Stalin's
notorious purges, and Chairman Mao's knowing slaughter of tens of millions.
Neuroscience and genetics are providing the potential for a revolution in our
understanding of why "bad" people do what they do.
For years, humans have been introducing and reintroducing plants and animals
into the environment. A live porcupine and peregrine falcon will be used to
discuss the reintroduction projects that these two species have been involved
in. Also, there will be discussion on the control and management of purple
loosestrife and wolves in Michigan.
For some bacteria, it's not simply divide and multiply,
divide and multiply. Instead, they sometimes produce
extraordinarily tough nano-sized particles called spores.
We will talk about why some spores are a threat while others
are quite benign and may, in time, become a key tool in the
field of bionanotechnology.
Recent legal disputes revolving around the patenting of
scientific advances have led to a situation where even the
discussion of certain scientific observations may be
considered patent infringement and subject to persecution.
What is the pivotal discovery that has prompted this
controversy? If we talk about it some attorneys say we are
breaking the law! We will reveal the secret and discuss how
we should balance the need for intellectual property and the
need for free discourse.
How are elements heavier than iron created? Why is there a
difference between the predicted and observed abundance of
elements? What is the precise nature of ultra-dense,
several-tons-in-a-teaspoon neutron stars, which astronomers
know to be among the brightest sources of X-rays in the
universe? The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory
(NSCL) at Michigan Sate University is one of the world's top
facilities for producing new versions of atomic nuclei. By
everyday standards, this is a construction process on a tiny
scale, a necessary if challenging step in understanding how
small objects on the atomic scale behave. It is a quest
that draws hundreds of researchers each year from around the
world to request a nucleus be built with a certain mixture
of ingredients. What fuels interest in this science?
The polls have consistently shown that between 40 and 45% of
citizens in the USA reject evolutionary science outright,
putting us behind every other industrialized nation and just
ahead of Turkey concerning general acceptance of evolution.
Why is this the case, and just why is it that the
antievolution advocates have had decades of success in
weakening education on this topic?
Sales of organic foods are projected to reach $32 billion by
2009. Are organic foods really more healthy? Are the
techniques of the 20th century's "Green Revolution" really
that bad? Can we feed the world without synthetic
fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides?'
For millennia, humankind has looked up at the stars and
wondered: Are we alone in the universe? Today, we send
scientific probes to explore the planets, moons, and
asteroids in our solar system. Where should we look for
life? What should we look for? How will we recognize alien
life if we see it? Why is water essential for life? How does
knowledge about microorganisms that live in extreme
environments on Earth (like Antarctica or deep-sea hot
springs) influence ideas about where life could
exist in the solar system? Recommended book:
Lonely Planets: the Natural Philosophy of Alien Life
by David Grinspoon.
What should we do about greenhouse gas emissions? Continue
"business as usual" and double emissions by 2055 resulting
in significant rise in global warming or keep emissions flat
until mid-century and then work to reduce them avoiding the
worst case scenario of climate change?
What are exponential growth, the first and second laws of
ecology, and lag time? Why are they critical when
considering global warming? How close are we to triggering
a tipping point and producing, '...sudden, catastrophic
changes across the planet'? What are Schellnhuber's twelve
tipping points and how close are we to that?
The gap between public perception and reality within popular
TV crime dramas is vast! Is there an emerging paradigm shift
in Forensic Identification Services because of converging
legal and scientific forces?
What your brain hears that you don't; How do we process
music?
Do we know anything for sure? Is teleportation possible? Can
the universe appear out of nothing?
of evolution?
